


Karry Prime: Super Double

by KarryBeta, KarryMaster



Series: Karry Prime [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Earth One Kara, F/M, Karry Prime, Prime Earth, The Millma Verse, flash season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 22:39:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15180890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarryBeta/pseuds/KarryBeta, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarryMaster/pseuds/KarryMaster
Summary: After the events of the original Supergirl/Flash crossover, Barry is distracted by something he won't tell his friends about. It's only when a new and dangerous meta turns up that Barry has to face his biggest foe yet. There is hope still, because the world needs more than one proper superhero. The world needs Power Girl!A personal take on an Earth-1 version of Kara Danvers - with a twist!Facebook: FanFiction Millma Verse Page.





	1. A Distraction from Zoom

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the larger story 'Karry Prime' - a parallel, of sorts, to KarryMaster's Karry Universe. The series is ongoing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of 'Worlds Finest', Barry is confused on why no one missed him - that is, until a new adventure rears it's head.

The Flash streaked through the streets of Central City, momentarily vanishing into a blue portal of indescribable flux, emerging only moments later some five feet away and finishing his jaunt back to STAR Labs where he skidded to a stop in front of Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and Iris West.

Ripping the mask from his head, Barry Allen turned to look at the trio.

"I'm back!" He exclaimed, oblivious to the fact he had time-jumped as well as having travelled inter-dimensionally as he added, "what… how long was I gone?"

"Let's put it this way," Cisco responded joyously. "You just annihilated your own record!"

"Yeah," Caitlin interjected, "you went four times faster than you have ever been!"

"But… Sparky, Shrieky and Super… wait, four times?" Barry was confused for a moment, as his friend didn't even seem to notice he had gone. He figured he must have been gone for at least two days so had expected people to be worried about him by now and relieved he had returned. Pieces were starting to fall into place in Barry's head though as he noticed the looks from the other three. They had barely moved from where he had left them, meaning he had only been gone for a few moments. They hadn't even noticed he'd been gone so long. He should have told them about the other Earths but in that second decided against it – proof though it was that possible still to breach universes, even if it was uncontrolled. It still proved something though as he added: "That's as –"

"Fast as Zoom," Harrison Wells strolled into the lab, ever the cheery fellow as he added thoughtfully, "well, faster actually…"

As they all took that information in, Barry removed the device from his chest plate as he moved over to Wells. "Hey, do you think we can get this thing smaller? It kind of sucks…"

"If it sucks, then yeah," Wells responded, his best at joking along as he took the device anyway and moved off back to the side-lines.

Pleased with himself, his thoughts now turning to the possibility of getting back at Zoom, at Jay, Barry turned to the other three feeling almost lightheaded as he announced their new plan of action. "All right, so now all we have to do is figure out how to get back to Zoom."

"Yes! Just a minor issue," Cisco now pointed out. "We closed all the breaches and have no idea how to reopen them."

Barry stammered, maybe he should tell them about his little trip after all? Then again, Wells could have an idea before Barry resorted to his ace in that hole. "Wells?" he asked hopeful.

"Yeah, I have an idea, Allen: Let's keep all the breaches closed forever," he responded coldly. Not what Barry was hoping for. "Forget about the breaches, forget about Zoom."

In retrospect and in a few months' time Barry would have undoubtedly agreed with the professor. In fact, if he had really been thinking about it he would have reasoned Zoom was dying anyway so given time everything would work out by itself. However his thoughts were concentrated now and going after Zoom was his primary mission. He couldn't be appeased now. "Wait, I'm sorry," Barry snapped. "I thought you were on board with this?"

"No," Wells replied instantly, moving back toward Barry. "No. I said I would help you get faster. I did not say I would help you give the man who kidnapped my daughter, and tortured her, a chance to do it again!"

"Hey, we are not going to let that happen," Iris finally spoke up, causing Barry to look up from a sudden stupor of guilt and Wells to roll his eyes at such positivity.

"Oh, you're not going to let that happen?" He asked sarcastically. "Gosh I wish I'd known that the first time. You don't understand: Zoom is different than us. Zoom is not tied to anything. Zoom does not care for anyone! I do; my daughter is out here on this Earth somewhere; I have to find her. We all have people that we care about – Zoom will use that against us. Believe me!" His anger, his annoyance and frustration ebbed from every fibre of his being as he turned his back on them, trying to remain calm.

"Maybe we should just leave it be…?" Caitlin suggested quickly, glancing worriedly to Barry now.

"No," Barry breathed. He understood where Wells was coming from, he had risked everything to save Jesse after all, but Wells simply didn't understand. "No, look we're not turning our backs on another Earth! We're not going to let Zoom get away with everything he's done." He said this to both Wells and Caitlin. Zoom had proved most challenging to Caitlin after all. Besides they didn't even know Zoom was a danger to other Earths too now – he had found a way to the second Earth that Barry had just visited and had been terrorising it before the Flash had even arrived. Then again that could have been another Zoom entirely to the one Barry knew. His head hurt and his stomach churned at the thought of that possibility.

"Right now, there is no way to another Earth, Allen." Wells moved back to Barry, trying to keep his cool now. "Let's keep it that way." Before Barry could correct him, since he actually knew there was a way to another Earth, Wells continued, nodding to the muted television screen: "Besides, I think the Flash is needed on this Earth right now."

As Harrison turned from the group, Barry glanced up to the screen himself, the information flashing at the bottom of some sort of unusual meta-human attack. "Guess the world won't pause for you to take on Zoom," Cisco commented awkwardly as there was a familiar rush of air and Barry was gone. Cisco, Caitlin and Iris all looked to one another, glad they didn't have to face the decision of bringing Zoom back just yet, but none wanting to voice the opinion, even in front of Wells.

"Did he seem odd when he came back to anyone else?" Iris, however, did voice to the group who looked at each other and then unanimously nodded. "And who's Sparky and Shrieky?" Iris figured it must be some meta-human Cisco had named so had turned her head to him as she asked.

"I don't know. Lame names. Not some of mine," Cisco said holding his up his hands in mock irritation.

-SuperFlash-

Barry arrived moments later at the scene of the crime. Joe was already there, as were several of his CCPD teammates, some keeping the media outlets to the side, as Barry took one moment to access if the Flash really was needed before stripping the red outfit from himself, his jeans and shirt underneath, as he strolled up to Joe. Barry Allen CSI.

"What happened here, Joe?" Barry asked as his eyes fell upon the dozen or so bodies, all wearing black and all instantly recognisable as not suffering trauma – or at least there wasn't a sign of blood splatter to be seen.

"Hey," Joe nodded at Barry. "Yeah, got an anonymous call and here we are. Eleven people, all dead; looks like you've got your work cut out for you…"

Barry sighed as he stooped to the nearest corpse. "Oh, this is weird," he immediately stated, Joe joining him as Barry looked up to him. "This one looks like Linda Park."

"Your old girlfriend?" Joe asked, bending down to examine the body. "Didn't she leave town?"

"Yeah," Barry muttered, worriedly as he glanced to the next body a foot away, the breath suddenly knocked out of him as he practically crawled to it in panic. "Patty?!"

"That's not right. I literally just spoke to her," Joe commented quickly as Barry snapped his head from the body of Patty Spivot to his foster father. "What?" Joe asked. "She likes to keep me updated on her college life. I was her mentor here after all. She's still in Midway, no chance she could have come here and been killed within ten minutes."

"Unless Zoom…?" Barry asked tentatively as he nonetheless cautiously felt the body. "She's cold. Stone cold. Must have been dead for at least twelve hours already. But this place is so exposed. You sure they were only just called in?" Barry asked, standing up and trying to keep the worry from his voice. It had to be Zoom; Wells had literally just said he went after loved ones, could he have made it back to Earth-1 without help? He had made it to Earth… Barry guessed it was 4, Earth-4? Barry shook his head. He had to think of better names for these Earths than just numbers.

"Only five minutes ago. Media got here before of course," Joe muttered, his eyes looking over the other bodies before he said more worriedly; "Bar?"

Barry glanced in the direction Joe was looking, even from these few feet it was easy to notice Iris West laying pale and unmoving, and it suddenly felt like the world was crumbling below his feet. But Iris had been in STAR Labs when Barry had seen the news, so it couldn't be her.

Already Joe was by the body and Barry had to rush to his side to console him, to make him believe this wasn't real. "She's at STAR Labs, Joe, I just left her there, it's impossible… this whole thing is impossible. It's got to be something… meta."

"But what could do something like this? Who…?" Joe asked, forcing himself up as the rest of the team was bagging up the bodies they had yet to look over.

"I'm going to find out Joe, trust me," Barry stated resolutely, the images of the lifeless Linda, Patty and Iris burned into his mind already as he looked around. They had been called in to this weird scene of death, purposefully exposed, which only meant they were being assessed on what they were finding, so someone had to be watching them… somewhere. "Get them to the morgue Joe, I'll be there shortly." Barry stated quietly as he retreated back to where he came.

A moment later, the Flash ran past the scene of death and straight for a side-street. He collided with someone before they had a chance to react and when both people realised what had happened, the Flash was already questioning them: "What do you know?" he growled. The woman he had pinned to the wall looked unfazed, in fact, she looked slightly blurred, which was frustrating to Barry's eyes but he kept her pinned, as she said nothing. "TELL ME!"

"Why should I let you in on my secret?" She, it was definitely a woman, responded, forcing Barry off her as she shook herself over. She wore plain clothes, had her brown hair in a ponytail and yet was constantly unfocussed. Barry remained standing on the spot, his fist clenched.

"How did you get those people… what is that?" Barry asked, indicating the scene of death behind him.

She, however, was interested in something else; holding in between her finger and thumb, Barry could just make out a long golden strand of hair as she cocked her head at it. "From your suit," she muttered casually, mesmerised. "I can do so much with this…"

"From my…?" Barry asked as he tried to catch up. "What can you do?"

"Just wait and see,  _Flash_ ," she stated, a smirk – or at least a smirk-liked expression – on her blurred features as she suddenly leapt at Barry, knocking him aside and headed out into the street. He could have gone after her, he would have caught up with, and caught her, but she hadn't actually done anything wrong, or admitted it yet, but she was definitely a suspect and definitely a meta-human.

"Barry," Cisco's voice came into Barry's earpiece. "I think you better get back here. You won't believe this!"


	2. The Clone-Maker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new meta-human causes trouble for Team Flash, and may just bite off more than she can chew with her unique abilities.

"They don't vibrate!" Cisco sat behind the desk of the main lab, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"They err… what?" Barry had returned to STAR Labs upon request, but found he wasn't following anything the moment he got back, especially since Cisco seemed off in his own little world again.

"Vibrate, Barry! They don't vibrate!" Iris and Caitlin, who were lingering in the room still, seemed to know what Cisco was on about, but the confused expression remained on Barry's face. Cisco groaned as he pulled up the newsfeed again on the dozen corpses Barry had just visited. "Remember everything here vibrates at the same frequency of this Earth; Harry and Jesse vibrate differently because they're from Earth-2 but those bodies don't vibrate at all."

"They're dead though," Barry pointed out, a little dumbly as he glanced worriedly to Caitlin now.

"They'd still vibrate though. This desk," Cisco indicated the wooden and metal construction he was sitting at, putting his hands on it as though to prove a point, "it isn't alive, but it still vibrates at the same frequency of this Earth, the same as the mannequin that holds your outfit when you're not in it. Everything living or dead vibrates at the same frequency here. The bodies, though no longer living, don't vibrate. Not of this Earth, nor ANY Earth!"

"So… they shouldn't exist?" Barry asked, moving toward Cisco now. "How did you find this out?"

"Oh you know me, I'm able to hack into anything," Cisco replied casually, leaning back in his chair as he added. "Plus, I'm awesome."

Barry resisted a little laugh as Caitlin spoke out from her corner, still with Iris, "That's not all though. The woman who may have caused this scene of complete weirdness, I was able to get an identity."

"How?" Barry was asking a lot of questions. "She was blurred, like I do so people don't see my face properly; facial recognition would be hell."

"Yeah, not sure how she's doing that; she's obviously not a speedster like you though" Cisco thought aloud.

"We'll figure that out," Caitlin responded as she looked back to Barry. "We were able to run a voice analysis from when she spoke to you in the alley, turns out it's Professor Kate Thomson of Mercury Labs; she went missing around the time of the Particle Accelerator explosion and has been presumed dead, but get this: Her area of expertise was in genetic manipulation and cloning."

"Cloning?" Barry asked, the implications of this suddenly laying heavy in his stomach as he remembered the golden thread of hair she had claimed from his suit.

"You know, Dolly the Sheep type stuff," Cisco voiced, Barry throwing him a somewhat scathing look as Cisco held his hands up in mock surrender.

"A lot of the metas we've faced so far have had powers drawn from their own skill, especially those from Earth-2" Barry thought of King Shark at this as Caitlin nodded solemnly. "You think the bodies were all clones?" They could hear the shock in his voice as he said the words, looking at Caitlin

"Only viable explanation," Caitlin stated. "I mean Iris was there and yet she's here too."

"But how did she get my DNA?" Iris finally asked, shivering a little as she said it.

"Could be anything," Caitlin replied. "The average amount of spit has enough deoxyribonucleic acid in it to hold the genetic structure of a person. Add in Professor Thomson's knowledge of genetics and whatever the accelerator did to her and you have a deadly combination for perfect cloning…"

"So I spat at her at once and she did that?" Iris asked, a little irate as she indicated the screen the bodies had been on. It had been a little nerve wrecking seeing her own dead body, albeit from a distance.

"Not necessarily. Microfibers of DNA can be found anywhere." Caitlin explained, listing off some examples: "Shredded skin cells, blood, a stray eyelash –"

"A strand of hair…" Barry interceded worriedly, and Caitlin nodded.

"Perfect piece of DNA," Caitlin said noticing the look on Barry's face. "Did she get a piece of your hair?" Caitlin was nervous at the thought. A clone Barry, and therefore a possible clone Flash, could be big trouble for the team and the city.

Before Barry could answer though Cisco cut in; "Look, I'm sorry and I get that the situation is dire or whatever, but are you going to tell us who Sparky and Shrieky are?" The thought had been annoying Cisco since Barry left. He knew all the metas and their names so the fact that Barry knew two he didn't was irritating him.

"What?" Barry was snapped out of his reverie as he looked directly at Cisco. His thoughts were still on the hair. "Sparky? Shr…" he was confused for a moment until he remembered he'd said those names to them when he thought they had known he'd been gone. Cisco was talking about Livewire and Silver Banshee. "No. Not yet anyway. Look, I'm going head back to the lab, have a talk with Joe and then… I dunno. If you can find Thomson, then let me know; she can't be as dangerous as some of the ones we have had locked in the pipeline or who are in jail now."

"And then you'll tell us who Sparky and Shrieky are?" Cisco asked.

"Maybe." Barry smirked, finding Cisco's annoyance amusing as he then sped out of the lab.

-SuperFlash-

Joe was waiting for Barry when he turned up at his lab, arms folded and leaning against the window. "I'm guessing that scene has something to do with a meta-human?" he asked, slightly coldly as Barry nodded, a little distracted himself. "Who would do something like that? And why? What was the point? I mean Iris…"

"I told you Joe, it wasn't actually Iris. Caitlin… she says they're clones." Barry told his foster father, somewhat dramatically.

"Clones? Like what they did with that sheep? How does that… A meta can clone people now?" Joe removed himself from the window to move closer to Barry, "And how long until this meta clones another meta? I dunno about you but I don't fancy facing off multiple Weather Wizards or… Turtles or whatever."

"I don't know, Joe. So far we've just seen dead clones, hopefully we won't find them alive. As for powers…" he groaned slightly and then simply shrugged. Would clones of metas have their respective originals powers? Would they be the same powers? There were way too many questions and not enough answers.

"You okay?" Joe looked concerned to Barry.

"I'm fine," Barry snapped back. The truth was, he wasn't 'fine'; he'd just come back from facing off Zoom on Earth-4 and no-one knew he'd gone; he'd met aliens and come across different types of meta-humans and no-one he loved knew about it. He'd been gone for two whole days and no-one cared. He still had to face Zoom and now…

"Bar, I know you, I know when something's bothering you. You don't need to keep holding the world on your shoulders all the time. It's okay to share your fears. I'm your dad, I'm meant to make your life just a little easier." Joe pointed out calmly.

"I'm the Flash, Joe, my life isn't going to be easy!" Barry barked, taking a breath for a moment before adding, "Sorry. I just… I've got a lot on my plate and I just need to step back for a moment."

"Zoom?" Joe asked, slightly uneasy and not even caring about Barry's mood.

"Mainly," Barry replied, finally slumping into a chair as Joe crouched to remain at eye-level with him.

"He's locked in another world Barry; he can't come back to this one."

"But he's terrorising that world! There isn't even a Flash to give them hope as Zoom  _is_  the Flash! I can't just let him turn the world into… to…" Barry sighed, clasping a hand over his eyes as he let the enormity of his situation sink in again, remembering it was not just one world. There was the other world Zoom had gotten to and he had promised the Supergirl of that world he would defeat Zoom before Zoom could get back.

"Barry, listen to me," Joe grabbed Barry's free hand. "Let it go. You don't need to worry about another world. A year ago you didn't even know it existed, you don't have to take their weight on too. They can handle themselves. The last thing we need is the Flash of our world to let Zoom back in. Go back to just dealing with just this world, okay?"

Barry removed the hand from his face, looking bloodshot eyes at Joe as he smiled slightly. "You sound like Harry."

"Much as I hate to admit it, Harrison Wells is a smart man. At least this version anyway," Joe chuckled as he moved back and stood up. "I'd listen to him in future."

"Maybe I should," Barry rubbed his eyes and stood suddenly, the other worlds and his promise to Supergirl still on his mind however. How could he break that promise? "I should probably get back there. Wells was working on shrinking the device that makes me apparently four times faster than Zoom himself."

"Four times, huh?" Joe smirked, "Perhaps we better start calling you 'The Blur' from now on?"

Barry chuckled, suddenly reminded of Cat Grant on Earth-3, insistent on such a stupid name. "I prefer 'The Flash'," Barry stated fondly though, about to add something reminiscent towards Cat Grant back on Earth-3, but decided against it. After all, Joe wouldn't get the joke about people jumping out of alleys in trench coats – Cat had definitely been a scary woman, but also strangely charming at the same time. Barry made a mental note at that moment to see if she existed in his universe.

Joe gave Barry a fond look as he asked suddenly, before Barry could run off: "Hey Bar, we good?"

Barry smiled again. "Yeah. We're good," he stated, before speeding off.

-SuperFlash-

Back at STAR Labs and Harrison Wells couldn't be found. It was unusual but Barry figured he'd gone somewhere to clear his head; after all he'd gotten quite irate earlier and he still needed to find Jesse. Without Zoom to terrorise this Earth or take Jesse hostage again she wouldn't be in any actual danger, but he was a concerned parent who'd been through hell. Barry knew to give him some space.

To be honest, Barry needed to clear his head too. It had only been less than half an hour ago he'd said goodbye to a version of Kara Danvers and come here to find he hadn't been missed. True, he'd somehow time-travelled to a point just after he'd gone, but it was still disconcerting that he'd lived two more days that didn't even count to everyone else. It was different, too, from the time-travel he'd experienced before – at least he got to re-live events and make them better the last times he'd time-travelled – now he didn't have that chance. It was like nothing had happened.

Perhaps it hadn't.

"Hey you, didn't you go see dad like ten minutes ago?" Iris was wandering the corridors of STAR Labs alone; Barry didn't question this.

"Yeah, well you know me, quick as lightning and all that." He smiled at her. "Free day from work yourself?"

"Well, being a journalist you kinda get a free schedule from time to time, so I thought I'd be here instead." There was something too casual about the way she spoke, and Barry remembered her boss. She had a date with him last night. Well it had been two days ago for him. He was bound to forget.

"How was your date with… what's his name? Your new boss?" He asked casually, not looking to where they were now strolling.

"Oh, it was fine. Just a shared coffee and few sob-stories." It was slightly too mechanical the way she responded, but Barry didn't have much time to wonder why as there was a shout from behind them.

"Hey! Lovebirds!" Both Barry and Iris turned as one to see a blurred figure with a brown ponytail at the other end of the corridor. "Tell Flash I want a word!"

Both glanced at one another before both Barry and Iris ran; Barry had to remain as normal as possible while in view of Professor Thomson, but once out, he picked up Iris and ran her with speed to the main lab room where Cisco and Caitlin were still chillaxing; they too both looked up when Barry dropped Iris off and changed into his Flash outfit, just in time for Thomson to enter the room herself.

"Oh boy, another breach in security!" Cisco commented as he stood quickly, instinctively moving in front of Caitlin as Barry took position in front of all three.

"So this is the infamous STAR Labs…" Thomson commented dryly, looking around absently at the room, "I should thank you."

"What do you want, Professor?" The Flash growled at Thomson, maintaining position.

"Oh, for a start not to be called 'Professor'." Thomson stated, venom to her voice. "I assume you know what I used to be called before your Particle Accelerator changed me?"

"Professor Kate Thomson of Mercury Labs, yeah," Caitlin pointed out.

"NO! Not anymore. You can call me Duplicate now, thanks." In that moment she withdrew a small vile of what looked like smoke from her jacket pocket, it was tinted slightly purple and seemed to draw every eye in the room.

"Duplicate. Couldn't have thought a better name up myself," Cisco whispered loudly. Duplicate ignoring him as she remained focussed now on the vial of smoke.

"Kate Thomson spent her life learning about the perfect way to clone a human being." Duplicate monologued now, "Her mother died, you see, when she was young and if she could just create the perfect copy of her…"

"I'm sorry about your mommy issues" Flash retorted, not actually caring. He had the same story, but he'd never dreamed he could get his mom back so easily.

"She almost got there though." Duplicate didn't pay attention to Flash either now. "Until that fateful night she, herself, died. Duplicate, I, was born from her mess and soon I found I could do so much more than just clone people and animals. I could give them full life, I could control them, could get them to do my bidding. I could even," and now she removed her eyes from the vial, "make them the perfect copy of their original self, meta-human powers and all."

Duplicate looked up at the Flash at that moment. "So tell me Flash, who's hair was it?" Flash didn't answer, recalling back to her taking the golden thread of hair from his suit previously. "I doubt it was yours. Under that mask I don't see you having long golden locks." Flash kept his mouth shut but was worried as Duplicate confirmed his suspicions. It hadn't been his hair. There was only one person whose it could be then. "Don't want to tell me? I'll find out eventually. Once I clone her. I'm assuming it's a her?" Flash remained silent now as his friends were also looking at him. "No, don't say anything. How about you deal with this, instead?"

In one swift movement she removed the top of the vial and breathed on the smoke that had immediately began to release itself from its containment; there was then a flash of light, a popping noise and Duplicate suddenly wasn't alone.

"Oh boy…" Cisco breathed as Kyle Nimbus, the man sentenced to death and made into the Mist when the Particle Accelerator explosion caused his own body to fuse with the very gas he was being killed with, grinned manically at the group.

"The perfect… duplicate." Duplicate responded. "I'll just take my Flash genetic material now. Mist dear, be a friend and kill these people."

Barry had to make a sudden choice; he could stop Duplicate and try and stop the copy of Kyle from killing them all with his toxic gas cloud, or he could save his friends immediately and let both Duplicate and Mist get away. Being who he was, he chose the latter; grabbing Iris first and retreating out the back, he returned for Cisco and Caitlin in seconds and, when he finally came back to the lab Duplicate had vanished, but the toxic gas cloud that was Nimbus' double remained.

He couldn't stay; he'd be killed choking on the gas. Barry ran. He re-joined his friends outside who instantly turned to him. "Barry, who's hair was it?" Caitlin asked frantically still coughing up the gas.


	3. From One Strand of Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry reveals what really happened to himself while wearing the Tachyon Accelerator, while this words' version of Kara Zor-El makes her first appearance.

"Her name was Kara." They were outside now, as they couldn't risk returning to the lab yet because of the clone Kyle Nimbus' effective poison gas cloud. Cisco insisted they could vent him, but Barry didn't want to take that risk; if he was confined in STAR Labs it was better than causing havoc in the city. Now though they wanted to know about the hair, about 'Sparky and Shrieky' and why Barry had been so distracted since breaking Zoom's speed record.

"When I ran, before with the speed canon device Wells made from Reverse-Flash's information, I breached; it seemed like a moment to you guys but it was longer for me." Barry explained thinking of the time he was gone. "I breached twice, actually – I went to two different Earths."

"Two Earths? Woah!" Cisco looked shocked, but it was nothing to Iris or Caitlin's silent reaction.

"You did go off the radar for like a second, yeah" Caitlin commented quietly, trying to make sense of it all and remembering when Barry had 'disappeared' only to reappear a moment later. She hadn't given it much thought until this moment. "But I thought you'd just gone so fast we couldn't keep track of you…"

"How long, Barry?" Iris had taken Barry's hand, looking at the expression on her best friend's face.

"Two days…" Barry muttered, looking her in the eyes this time, seeing her purse her lips in shock at the information.

"Wait, you were gone for two days? But it was only a second, like Caitlin said" Cisco pointed out now, trying to make sense of the time difference.

"I dunno," Barry removed his gaze at Iris to look at Cisco, "I time-travelled back to the moment I left, I suppose, but it still happened, I can't forget… it's hard."

"What happened? Who is Kara?" Caitlin asked, but there was more to her simple question than words would allow. There was a look in Barry's eyes when he said her name and Caitlin couldn't help but feel there was more to Kara than Barry was letting on.

"When I breached," Barry moved away from them now, looking away as he explained, "I landed in another world. The first world I went to – Earth-3, I guess – in that world you guys weren't in it, not even STAR Labs. Central was around though. But Kara… she was, well she is, a superhero and I  _mean_ super." He looked to Cisco now, as he couldn't help hide a grin. "She was an alien. I saw her spaceship."

"An alien?! How…? What…?" For once Barry had made Cisco somewhat speechless. "That Earth had aliens? I mean seriously aliens? Were they green? Did she look humanoid? She had a super power? What type of powers? Why could she do it? Why was she –?"

"Calm down!" Barry said holding up his hand as Cisco questioned him. "One at a time. She looked human enough, was about your height, Caitlin, and our age, had a job by day and saved people by… well, whenever she should. She had all these cool superpowers too. It was something about the yellow sun being able to charge her body or something. It made her different so I assume her home sun was different, but she had these laser eyes and was able to let out a blast of cold air from her mouth, she had super strength and could fly and was even almost as fast as me on foot, too! Possibly faster or the same while she was in the air."

"She sounds… impossible" Caitlin pointed out, but Barry could tell she, along with Cisco and Iris, did believe him.

"I helped her though. I was able to do my part. See the speed canon thing didn't work, not being of that Earth so not vibrating right, I assume anyway, so I thought I was stuck. She had this ex-colleague meta who could scream so loudly it was like a physical barrier, like Harley's glove things – I was even able to fashion ear plugs from when he was our enemy." He had to remember he'd changed that part of history now; the Pied Piper was no longer a nemesis to STAR Labs.

"I guess that one was Shrieky?" Cisco commented and Barry nodded. "Who came up with that name?"

"I did!" Barry protested, adding, "But she called herself Silver Banshee."

"Now that is cool. Silver Banshee," Cisco nodded approvingly as Iris and Caitlin rolled their eyes at him and Barry sighed.

"Sparky was actually called Livewire and had the ability to manipulate, and become, electricity. I don't actually know how either of them got their powers as it wasn't even Central City and, like I said, there was no Particle Accelerator to explode…" Barry realised this as he said it, the conversation never having come up with Kara as he took for granted meta-humans these days. It had never accorded to him they shouldn't exist there anyway, what with the alien Supergirl.

"You weren't in Central? Where were you then?" Caitlin asked.

"National City," Barry said. "Nice place. Had never been there before, even if it was an alternative Earth's National."

"Odd question, but did you meet Cat Grant?" Iris spoke out, Barry looking to her amazed.

"Yeah, Kara was her assistant. How do you know about Cat?"

"She runs the company that owns the newspaper I work for. I thought you knew?" Iris stated innocently. "CatCo Media. Big in National but not as well known outside the city, from what I've heard, Cat is power-hungry and won't be happy until she has her claws in every major city in America" Iris now chuckled.

"That sounds like her. I think she did it in that reality, conquer America I mean." It felt good to finally talk about his time away, to find that it wasn't too alien the other world he'd been to after all. So if Cat Grant existed, who else did?

He'd gotten on well with Winn. Then there was James who had seemed jealous of him for no real reason. What about Kara herself? If there were aliens in the other universe why not in this one? Was there's an Earth-1 Kara somewhere? Had her planet never exploded in his universe or did she die with Krypton, instead? It was also possible her and her cousin never made it to Earth; perhaps they were sent to another planet? Or were they here but in hiding? Even if they were here her last name might not be Danvers – it could be anything. Any family could have taken her in. Hell her planet might have even formed life in this universe. There were way too many possibilities and they made Barry's head hurt trying to think.

"The hair," Caitlin interrupted. "It's hers isn't it? The alien girl with the superpowers?"

"I assume so." Barry nodded solemnly now, concentrating on their discussion, "I mean the only other people I know with long blond hair are the Lance sisters, Felicity Smoak and Patty. Duplicate already had Patty's DNA though and I haven't been to Star City in a long while. There hasn't been a chance to meet the other three to get a stray hair off them." He shrugged. "But would Duplicate even be able to clone an alien? She mentioned animals and humans."

"There's a body in the cortex and you lot are on about clones." None of them had heard Doctor Wells come outside to them, but Cisco jumped at the sudden other voice and the two women glanced to the doctor. Barry remained stoic in his position however, "which means either you're up to something dangerous or there's a meta on the loose who can clone other metas."

"Mist is dead?" Barry asked quietly.

"If that's what you called him then yes." Wells responded. "And if your latest foe is who I think she is you need to be ready for anything."

-SuperFlash-

Duplicate had made sure to clean up after she had had left, as the cortex was poison gas free and Nimbus' dead body was solid. It was almost a shame to have even given him life to just take it away so quickly, proving Duplicate had no concern for human life herself, beyond her own of course. It was worrying.

Barry and Cisco had removed the corpse from the room, leaving him in the cooler storage and returning to the cortex to hear Wells' explanation on what he knew toward their latest meta. He was sitting quietly at the desk as the guys returned; Barry hadn't even taken off his Flash outfit.

"So, Duplicate?" Barry asked the moment he and Cisco walked in. "What do you know?"

"On my Earth she went by the name 'Doppelgänger', and she was dangerous." Wells started, addressing all in the room but focussing on Barry. "When Zoom found out about her, he recruited her into his little gang; he had a plan to use her to clone himself and steal his own clone's speed. But it didn't work. At least not in the way he'd planned."

"How do you know all this?" Barry interjected.

"When your daughter is kidnapped and possibly dead, you do all you can to find out about the psycho who took her in the first place!" Wells snapped at Barry, taking a moment before adding thoughtfully, "Everything but his true identity of course…" he sighed, pinching his noise as he continued from before. "Anyway, stealing his clone selves' speed proved effective in short bursts, like Caitlin's Velocity mix, but he couldn't keep on killing himself for his powers, it's why he turned his attention to other speedsters like yourself, Allen. True speed-force, not a simple copy of it."

"What did he do to Duplicate – I mean Doppelgänger?" Cisco breathed, hanging on to Wells' every word.

"He killed her of course," Wells replied casually. "Turning his attention to me as he did so. But it proved something too. Doppelgänger wasn't so… selective on who she copied. There was a time, Mr. Ramone, when there was more than one version of a meta-human on my Earth. You thought it was bad when you had to face off Killer Frost, Deathstorm and Reverb? Imagine plenty of them, all working for Zoom under Doppelgänger's tutelage. But when Zoom killed Doppelgänger in cold blood, all but the originals died with her. It was almost a relief for us, to suddenly be faced with so little."

"She's going to create another Flash to control. And Supergirl?" Barry voiced, his tone hollow with worry.

"Supergirl? Is that Kara?" Cisco asked Barry who nodded. "Who does the names over there? That's a really ageist… or sexist… or whatever name. Surely Superwoman…?"

"Not now, Ramone," Wells cut him off, annoyed at Cisco's intervention. He looked at Barry. "Can you bring yourself to do it Barry, to kill someone to stop them from unleashing a force you can't stop?"

"To cut off the head of the snake…" Barry quoted, almost in a trance.

"No. Barry, that's not you!" Iris pointed out quickly, finally speaking out. "You don't kill metas, you don't kill anyone!"

Barry seemed to come out of his trance as he looked to Iris. He was torn. "You don't know the full strength of Supergirl; I could never face her off on my own, or another version of myself, for that matter. I have a hard enough time dealing with Zoom, not to mention the Reverse-Flash, but if I could stop them both at their source, before they can do any damage…"

"I think it's too late for that." Caitlin, unnoticed by the others had set up her laptop, probably searching for Duplicate while they spoke, but now she had turned the monitor to face the others and Barry saw a face he thought he'd never see again on the screen, albeit slight pixelated. Button nose, piercing blue eyes, rolling dirty blond hair… the only thing that was different was the outfit; she was all in back instead of blue and red, and there was no cape or 'S' symbol. The image was a close-up from surveillance footage and she seemed to be hovering, looking at something. Watching. Waiting?

"It's her!" Barry breathed. "Where is she?"

"Central City Bank. And she's not alone." Caitlin swapped surveillance footage to show a red streak dashing into the bank below the floating woman before it zoomed out again. "Why didn't she follow?"

"She's luring me in," Barry sighed. "I… gotta go face her."

"Be careful." Iris now intoned.

"Remember what I said, Allen." Wells added as Barry nodded and vanished in a red streak himself.

-SuperFlash-

Barry arrived at the bank a mere moment after he'd left STAR Labs. He hadn't even had time to really think of how he was going to deal with this Supergirl, or if she had any memories from her other life – she had just come from a strand of hair after all. The other Flash had been and gone already, and Caitlin was tracking Barry's vitals to match anything similar in the city, hoping to find Duplicate's hideout at the same time.

Now the real Flash stood atop the rooftop of the bank, hardly being able to take in the figure floating above him. Below, on ground-level, plenty of the authorities were gathered, weapons pointed but it seemed they hadn't acted. It was good considering those guns would do nothing at all. Barry was glad that Joe wasn't among them too.

"Kara?" Barry now asked tentatively, his attention on the woman.

"Flash," she replied harshly, "or should I say Barry Allen? It wasn't hard for Duplicate to realise who you were when she copied you."

"It was inevitable," Barry replied. "Kara, do you remember me?"

"Of course I don't! Duplicate made me from genetics, not memories. She may be good but she's not a god. At least I know a name to go by now."

"Why did you wait for me? To lure me or fight me?" Barry had his fists clenched; he was ready even if he didn't want to face it.

"I… yes," Kara stated, hesitating for a mere moment, seeming unsure before powering up her eyes.

"You figured out how to work them then?" Barry kicked off, running headlong into the clone before she could respond or fire at him and pulling her from the air. He didn't stop as he tried to throw her from the rooftop, but she stopped a few feet out, dazed but floating.

"That was unfair!" She replied, breathing her cold jet of freeze-breath on Barry, which he of course only just managed to dodge.

"I don't know what her plan is, but I can't hold her off forever guys!" Barry called to the mic in his suit, connecting to Wells and the rest of STAR Labs.

"Get her to chase you!" Caitlin replied, sounding a little hesitant, but it was respectively the best plan; Barry didn't want innocents harmed.

"You think that was unfair? How about trying to freeze an innocent hero!" Barry finally retorted to the Kara clone.

"You're no hero, Flash!" She replied, going full out for Barry now as he ran – leaping off and down the building and away from the audience, the clone of Kara only just on his heel as he gave into a chase. Why did it always seem to end up that they raced? First on Earth-3 with the 'original' Kara to get him fast enough to open a breach, then on Earth-4 with Zoom on their tails and now this. There must have been something to it.

An idea struck Barry as he lurched forward. Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? He'd used it, unsuccessfully, on Zoom on Earth-4 after all.

In one quick and fluid moment, Barry span, grabbing the lighting that resulted from his speed and flung it directly at his pursuer.

Kara froze for a moment, still caught mid-run as the lightning struck her. Barry suspected that had this been either of the Kara's he'd previously met, with the life experience behind her, this would have been no different to being lightly tapped on the chest, but for the inexperienced clone that had only just learned to use her powers, the lightning was enough.

The clone Kara collapsed, still speeding forward due to the momentum and Barry didn't have time to act as she went headlong into the side of a building, bricks and mortar flying and imploding at the same time.

"Barry, what happened?" Wells' voice came on over the intercom.

"She'll be okay," Barry sighed, inching over to the collapsed wall now as he could just make out the woman in the rubble.

"Bring her back to the lab, she'll be an interesting study." Wells replied as Barry shifted a few bricks.

"Are you mad? You can't even penetrate her skin let alone…" he stopped as he heard the copy of Kara groan something under the bricks. "What?"

"I didn't say –" Wells responded.

"Not you! Kara…" Barry moved closer as he heard her words, repeated, like she was stuck in a loop.

"Can't hear… no control… Duplicate…" It sounded almost desperate, like she was lost.

"I think something's happened," Barry said softly, leaning down to the semi-conscious clone. "I think Duplicate's lost control of her!"

"Get her back, now Allen!" Wells commanded, Barry not stalling now as he scooped Kara from amongst the bricks and sped her back to STAR Labs.


	4. Flash vs Flash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry takes on both a clone of himself and Kara, while trying to reason with the latter.

The clone of Kara lay on the examination table just off from the cortex. Barry stood in the next room looking through the glass at the girl, still in his Flash outfit but with the hood off, he was biting his gloved fingers in unconscious worry as Wells, Cisco and Caitlin hovered over the woman's body – whatever had happened to Kara, whatever Barry might have done, her connection to Duplicate definitely looked to be severed, but it also seemed she might have relied on the connection for her own life too.

Without Duplicate in her head, or however she controlled her clones, Kara had gone into cardiac arrest the moment Barry had brought her in; Wells and Caitlin, both doctors (or at least medically trained) had asked Barry to leave her where she was now and, after several failed attempts at resuscitation, Kara had miraculous managed to pull through. She was completely unconscious now, but there was only a little brain activity. Wells couldn't get any needles into her body either, due to her alternative physiology. Barry had mumbled he'd warned them about that before the first needle Wells tried broke, so they had to rely on digital scans and Kara's own strength to make sure she'd pull through. Nevertheless, Wells had noted that Kara was 'fascinating' at least ten times already.

"Hey, Bar. She'll be okay. Whatever Duplicate did to her, she's free of it." Iris was by Barry's side, not looking at the other woman, but at Barry himself as he glanced to her too. She knew Barry's face so well. She could see the emotions written on it by now. Particularly the worry.

"She has practically no brain activity," Barry responded, a little despondent, focussing back on the side-lab and the unconscious Kara.

"What happened to you and her? I mean the Kara you knew." Iris now asked. "You care for her. I can tell…"

"I know she's not her," Barry nodded to the clone, "but in a way she is… She was made from her. When I was on Earth-3, Kara and I… we connected, more quickly and more personally than I have with anyone I've known, even you Iris. I dunno what it was, but she was just… something else. The same thing happened on Earth-4. We were just a team – partners – in a way no one else can; we understood each other. Both having the same burden. It's different with Olly, with the Arrow, but with Kara… Knowing she's here now, even if not the same person, there's surely something of the woman in there waiting to become the Kara I know, free of Duplicate's control…"

"What if Duplicate's control was too strong though? She's free of her now, but after that? Does she have any memories; does she even know who she is? What she is?"

"Not even Duplicate knew what she was," Barry sighed, "as she didn't know her name until I called her Kara earlier."

"Fresh slate though," Iris stated, "she could be anyone she wants to be, any name she wants to be."

"I hope she sticks with Kara," Barry said suddenly. "It fits her, it suits her, and it's who she is. Kara Zor-El of Krypton. Kara Danvers, Cat Grant's assistant… Supergirl." The last word was whispered. He didn't know how she got the name 'Supergirl' though – it had something to do with her cousin's alternative name being 'Superman' and Cat Grant's influence.

"Could it be you're relying too much on her becoming the person you knew and not the person she can be now?" Iris now asked, the only other person beside her father who dared question Barry without fear of repercussions. Barry removed his eyes from the unconscious clone to look at Iris. Iris herself had never seen Barry look so lost as he stared at her. "Hey…" she put a hand on his shoulder, "it'll be okay."

"We've done all we could," Cisco was the first to exit the lab. Iris and Barry pulling away from one another to look at the other man, "but there's no brain activity now, man, I mean literally nothing. Somehow she managed to get her body back in rhythm – a really strong, steady heartbeat – but beyond that…" he tried to look apologetic. "It might be a coma. We don't know what's going on." Barry hated the word coma. He had experienced that first hand and hated thinking a version of Kara was in one.

"Duplicate's influence is completely severed, Allen." Wells remarked, a little less sympathetic, "Which mean if she wakes up she's no longer a danger to Duplicate's enemies."

"And when she does wake?" Barry asked not even wanting to think it would be an 'if', he clinging to any hope there was.

"If she wakes, Mr. Allen, she will likely be very dangerous in general. No one to control her, nothing in her head, she's completely brand new and will likely be scared – she'll be more dangerous than when under control. But if we can get her to calm down, to see sense, she could be a valuable asset." Barry knew what Wells meant. Valuable in the same way Barry was as the Flash.

"Only if she wants to. She'd need to really learn who she is, and what she can do." Barry pointed out.

"There may be no time to give her life lessons on what she can do, if we can get her to help us defeat the meta who created her…" Wells started.

"She could die! If we kill Duplicate she could die herself." Barry pointed out, irritated at Wells' constant nonchalant attitude to everything now. Wells himself had remarked that the clones die when Duplicate dies.

"Not necessarily, Barry – if her mind is disconnected from Duplicate it could mean that a permanent cut of the tether would keep her alive more than if it remained. It's a possibility."

"In English?" Iris asked beside Barry, not having understood a word of what Wells had just said.

"With her brain disconnected from Duplicate already, Miss West," Wells sighed "it's more than likely she won't die if Duplicate does – as the connection is already weakened. A permanent cut from it could leave Kara alive and fine. The clones on my Earth were connected body and mind, Doppelgänger literally gave herself to her clones, if Duplicate is the same that means that Kara in there is already halfway to freedom."

"If I don't kill Duplicate," Barry ignored Iris' groan of agitation, "would that mean she could gain full control of Kara again if given the chance?"

"It's hard to tell, this is new territory." Cisco pointed out before Wells could. "It may be that Duplicate simply won't be able to reconnect with Kara, but if she could it would mean Kara's a danger while Duplicate is alive. Sorry Iris." He knew Iris didn't want Barry to kill. It was morally wrong and a line she didn't want Barry or the Flash to cross, but now even Cisco was leaning towards Barry killing the former professor. It just seemed like the best solution.

"Could she clone her again from one of this Kara's hair?" Barry needed to know.

"Doppelgänger never could." Wells pointed out simply, running a hand through his own hair, "but you have more pressing matters than 'ifs' and 'coulds'; there's another Flash out there under full control and robbing banks for who knows what. I suggest you let us get on with our unique skills and you, Mr. Allen, find your clone." He nodded to Caitlin's computer, which in their distraction had found the same vitals that matched Barry, and by what it was saying, the other Flash was already causing havoc in Central City.

"Yeah," Barry muttered, knowing he couldn't let this clone's actions continue, and he could lead Barry straight to Duplicate. He pulled his mask back on and was gone in a red blur.

-SuperFlash-

The other Flash had already gained himself an outfit; Duplicate had been waiting long enough to have her very own Flash that she had it made months ago, although she had modified it since; ever since that other Flash called 'Zoom' had turned up. She'd been fascinated by his blue lightning and had changed the suit to reflect this fascination; although in the same design as the actual Flash, his clone's outfit was several shades of blue, and the chest plate was more or less the same as the Flash's current one, albeit the lightning bolt itself was electric-blue on white instead of lightning-gold on white.

So the blue Flash was now causing trouble for the sake of causing trouble. He'd provided Duplicate with the money she needed, and now was just trying to cause a bad name for his Flash alternative – something the real Flash needed to sort out.

Barry found his clone terrorising the cops who'd been at the bank for the earlier robbery, and he wasn't playing fair. It was lucky for Barry what this other Flash hadn't yet tapped into his full potential – he was positively slow compared to Barry now. This Flash was Barry at the start, after his coma and before he had even been named. The only difference was the fact he was the same age as Barry now and, when he stopped to face off with the red suited version, looked identical to Barry presently.

"Hey!" Barry called out as his clone now sneered. "If you want to take out some stress, why not do it on someone your own speed?"

"Thanks but no dice," the other Flash retorted, his original self obviously not the target as he was about to turn to run off, Barry however sped up and faced him before he could run off.

"Did you not hear me?" He was angry now; angry that he had to face off himself, angry at Duplicate's need to make her own weird evil army of metas and aliens, but also angry that he couldn't get his hands on Duplicate to save Kara. He just knew if she woke, if they calmed her down, Kara would be on their side, he just knew it – she'd be like the two Karas he'd already met. She'd be a hero. Barry finished his speech to his double with anger in his vocals: "Face up to someone your own speed, damn it!"

"Don't want to, Flash." The clone in blue retorted, but Barry wasn't going to let him leave as he ran, quickly and in a circle around his double, the clone instantly propelling himself forward so as to escape, but flung back on a rebound.

"Huh, this is easier than I thought it would be," Barry called to those back at STAR Labs. "Want me to bring him back –" he stopped suddenly; the other Flash was spinning in circles too, but in the opposite direction. The friction of their slipstreams was catching fire, something Barry hadn't seen before and before he could stop himself he was thrown backwards as his double stopped right in front of him and hit him with full strength.

"Oh, maybe not!" Barry groaned after he'd collided with a lamppost and collapsed in pain and shock.

The blue Flash however, didn't take his leave as he suddenly appeared in front of Barry, crouching down as he cocked his masked head. "You know, all I need to do is remove my mask and everyone will know who's causing Central so much pain… Imagine the damage Barry Allen can do when he's not himself." There was an awful smirk on his face as he stood. Barry himself was in too much pain to react as the clone gave a horrible smile and sped off.

"Urgh, so what do we call him then?" Barry moaned, moving his head back as the pain began to numb, his body speed-healing now. He wondered what he'd broken this time.

"I was thinking… the Anti-Flash" Cisco's voice came over the intercom, a little hesitant. Barry could almost picture the smile on Cisco's face as he got to name someone.

"Anti-Flash? Sounds like antifreeze, that and its way too close to Reverse-Flash for my liking." Barry pointed out with a groan, forcing himself to his feet now.

"Well then you be the naming's expert!" Cisco retorted over the intercom.

"Fine!" Barry sighed, "Anti-Flash he is then, let's hope Duplicate doesn't force him to reveal my – his… our – identity…" Barry groaned. "This is getting confusing."

"It looks like he's heading to the morgue." Caitlin had taken over the intercom, tracking the Anti-Flash's movements now through satellite relay and Barry, unfazed by his run in with his other self now the pain was gone, was already on the Anti-Flash's tail once more, albeit coming from another direction – he knew every street, avenue and alley in Central by now and there was at least ten different ways to get to the morgue. He'd be there first.

Barry stopped in front of the entrance; he'd gotten there before Anti-Flash, as he thought he would, but it was only a second or two later that the other red streak appeared and stopped before him.

"You just don't give up, do you?" Anti-Flash moaned, he slightly out of breath, reminding Barry of his early days when testing himself.

"Not until I have you and your creator locked up!" Barry retorted – he was still playing with the idea of ending Duplicate once and for all, though.

"Well you've come to the right place," the female's voice forced Barry to look away from his other self, momentarily seeing Duplicate now at the entrance before he was suddenly knocked off his feet and, before he knew it, was inside a derelict bunker-like structure, his clone pinning him to wall just like he'd pinned Duplicate earlier that day.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Duplicate entered unforeseen from the same direction both Flash's had come, and now that Barry's eyes adjusted to the dim light he could see it was a large tomb. There was a crypt in the centre, doubling as some sort of forensic table, several amounts of laboratory equipment and a lot of things in jars on makeshift selves on the walls. "DNA, genes, call them what you want" Duplicate indicated the suspended jars, "they are my life blood, my means to create more of… well, anyone."

"Why do all this? Why wait until now?" Barry asked, ignoring the breath on his face from his counterpart, still pinning him against the only bare wall in the crypt.

"Because I wasn't sure, Flash, I wasn't sure what I could do. It takes time gathering one's powers – you had help, training, friends. Myself? Only me and nothing! This laboratory – a family crypt, as you can tell. I have other labs scattered around the city of course, so your friends can stake this place out looking for you if they will." She now looked directly at Barry, having been glancing around the 'lab' as she'd spoke. "I had to hone my skills, learn what I could do… give myself to my creations" she said this quickly, with a rush of euphoria, like it was the best thing that would ever, and had ever, happen to her.

"You have my DNA, what do you want with me now?" Barry hadn't heard anyone's voice in his ear since he got in this place and was starting to worry. At least Wells and everyone knew where he last was.

"She wants me to take your place!" Anti-Flash literally spat in his original's face, Barry groaning.

"Quiet, you!" Duplicate announced, addressing Anti-Flash. "But yes, he will take your place, say he's defeated me and his clone, regain the trust of your friends and then… get me my alien back!"

"You know she's an alien? You know how dangerous she can be?" Barry growled.

"I didn't know what she was, but she proved a tough cookie to bake, so to speak, but when she was created, when I could see what she could do…" there was, what could be transcribed as, a glazed expression on Duplicate's blurred face and Barry suddenly realised why she was constantly blurred – it was like Wells had said of her Earth-2 version: she literally gave herself to her clones, it was how she could control them, by being part of them. Maybe the more clones she had, the more weakened her own genetic structure became? Maybe he had a way to stop her without killing her, but first he had to know…

"You've lost control of her, she's free of you already!" Barry couldn't help but gloat.

"Indeed. Her non-Earth brain, it was most hard to control when I made her, away from me she was able to break our connection. She fought you on her own terms though, that wasn't my instruction, so maybe there's something I can do to reel her in. I can't shut her off now either, you see; she troubles me. A clone I can not destroy." Duplicate was more talking to herself than Barry, but that confirmed it for Barry: Kara was her own person now, completely free of Duplicate's control, but she was still connected at a basic level. Could she survive if Duplicate was stopped for good?

"Enough chatter. Flash," she addressed Barry's clone. "You know what to do!"

Before Barry could react, everything went black as his clone knocked him out cold.


	5. A Brand New Kara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clone Kara starts to find her own identity, while something strange is going on with Barry...

"I was thinking… the Anti-Flash." These were the first words Joe heard as he entered the cortex, looking to Cisco and Caitlin behind the main desk, talking to Barry as ever when out as the Flash. He didn't hear the reply but when Cisco retorted that Barry should be the one naming metas, Joe could hazard a guess at what Barry had said.

As Caitlin took over instruction from Cisco, Joe decided to speak up: "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on out there? I've got a dozen corpses in the department morgue matching living citizens, my men are reporting the Flash has gone rogue but is facing off against himself and now you're calling someone 'Anti-Flash'?" He looked around at his daughter and then saw the girl on the slab in the next room, Doctor Wells hovering over her with a most curious look on his face. "And who's that?" Joe added.

"That's a clone." Cisco moved out from behind the desk, grinning madly. "And so is the Anti-Flash, the err, the other Flash that Barry's been having trouble with."

"Fill me in," Joe stated simply as he nodded to his daughter. He still headed the Meta-Human department at the CCPD and as this was his territory, it was best that he knew everything – especially if Captain Singh were to question him later about it all.

"The thirteen clones were a rouse to get to the Flash," Cisco stated, "we believe Duplicate, that's the meta's name, wanted to get the Flash's DNA to clone but got hers instead." He nodded to the girl in the next room.

"And who is she?" Joe asked politely, wondering how this meta could get DNA from a girl he did not even know while trying to get the Flash's DNA.

"An alien from another Earth," Cisco stated matter-of-factly. By the look on his face Joe could tell how much this excited him. "Well the clone of her anyway."

"Oh," Joe responded, not sure how to reply to that, as he looked wide-eyed to Iris before glancing at the blond girl and back to Cisco. "Go on." He wasn't going to press the alien thing yet. That could wait.

"Long story short, Duplicate got Barry's DNA anyway and made a clone. Literally identical. The only difference between the clone and the real Barry is his speed-force – the clone looks to be near the start, like Barry after his coma. Oh, and the blue costume. I have to hand it to Duplicate that is one sweet looking variation of mine."

"Cisco, I've lost contact with Barry!" Caitlin suddenly cried, Cisco looking back, wide-eyed himself, as he went to join her back by the computers.

"Where was he last?" Cisco asked trying to get contact back but failing himself.

"The city morgue," Caitlin replied, the two starting scans as Joe turned to look at his daughter.

"Well, this escalated quickly," he chuckled, looking back to the woman in the next room. "She's an alien?" It was finally time to address that issue.

Iris would have been worried about Barry's signal being lost, but there was nothing to be done; it wasn't like Duplicate was strong enough to harm Barry herself from when she had seen her earlier, so she smirked at her dad. "Yeah she is. Barry filled us in and apparently when he broke Zoom's speed record he breached to two different worlds, met her on both, connected with both versions of her," she emphasised the word 'connected' and Joe knew instantly what this meant, "and obviously had a stray bit of her DNA on his suit when he finally got back here. A hair. He ran into Duplicate at that weird scene earlier and hey-presto, clone alien. He calls her Kara."

Joe was now looking through the glass to the girl. It seemed impossible that she was an alien; she looked so human, so normal, and so peaceful. He turned to look back at Iris when the girl, Kara, sat up so suddenly she made Wells, who was by a bank of computers, fall off his chair.

Cisco was by her side in seconds, Caitlin remaining behind the desk in the cortex to try and get back in contact with Barry but keeping an eye on the new events in the lab, and was trying not to laugh as Wells picked himself from off the floor.

"Who are you? Where am I? Who am I?" Kara asked in succession, looking directly at Wells before directing her eyes to Cisco who was now moving to the other side of the table. Both could see she looked scared.

"I'm Doctor Harrison Wells, this is Mister Cisco Ramon," Wells replied quickly, curiously, "you're at STAR Labs, a facility that's here to help you, and as for who you are –"

"You can be whoever you want to be," Iris quickly spoke up, remembering her conversation with Barry mere minutes ago. She was standing by the doorway as Kara looked to her and Iris could see she looked just as lost as Barry had done, making Iris feel suddenly subdued, sad for the girl who didn't know anything. This hadn't been her choice. She had been a random piece of hair Barry had taken away until this meta had come and cloned her, to use her.

"But for the purposes of affiliation we'll be calling you Kara for now," Wells stated, glancing agitatedly at Iris before turning his attention to Kara. It was easier to use the name Barry had given her than trying to have the clone decide on a new name right now. Especially since she wouldn't know much as it was, let alone human names. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Cisco had been shining a torch into Kara's eyes to check for concussion or remaining trauma, it was distracting Kara who pushed his arm aside; she not knowing her strength as Cisco cried out in pain, a bruise instantly forming on his arm where she had touched him causing herself to flinch in panic at his outcry.

Upon seeing Kara panic so suddenly, Wells was instantly reminded of a time when Jesse was very young. It was after her mother had passed away and he'd taken her to the zoo, of all places. The screech owls had chosen the moment they were viewing their cage to cry out and Jesse had been so scared… "It's okay" Wells found himself saying soothingly, recalling that instant as he did now, seeing Kara as a scared child. He found himself in a father-mode he thought he could only get into for Jesse. "He's okay, it was just a shock… Now please," he tried to bring himself back to his nonchalant ways, "when you're ready. What's the last thing you remember?"

Kara was now looking solely at Wells, smiling slightly as she said quietly. "I… don't. I don't remember anything. What happened?"

"We saved you," Wells stated, finding middle ground now between fatherhood-smooth and current-doctor-cold. "But there are things you need to know. Mister Ramon here," he indicated for Cisco to move closer, he covering his bruise quickly as he caught on to behave as sweetly as possible, "and myself will help explain exactly what you are."

"What I am?" Kara had pulled her legs to her chest now, sitting upright in a foetal position but remaining alert to the two men around her.

"You're special," Cisco now added, grinning in spite himself. He almost wanted to say 'alien' right away but didn't know how the clone would react to that. It was better to ease her into it.

Watching this going on from behind the glass now, Iris found she was holding her dad's hand, momentarily worried for Kara but not voicing her thoughts until Joe spoke softly to her. "You know, sometimes I forget this Wells isn't the same man we got to know so well. I forget this one is a father; you can see it in his eyes. I mean I know he went to great lengths to get Jesse back, but even then you just… forget."

"The other man was Eobard," Iris pointed out a little sharply, "and he didn't have a fraternal bone in his twisted body." It still hurt thinking about him; not only had Eobard Thawne taken away Barry's mother and forced his dad to remain in jail until Thawne himself died, but he'd also inadvertently killed Eddie, a man Iris had loved with all her heart. It was something that could never be forgiven and was hard to not take out on the man who looked like him. Looking at him now though, with Kara. Iris could see nothing of the man they had come to know.

She found she was squeezing her dad's hand as he squeezed back, an unspoken moment of understanding passing between the pair.

There was a rush of wind and both Iris and Joe turned to see Barry stopping in front of Caitlin. "I did it!" he called, somewhat enthusiastically as Iris now moved closer to Barry, he ripping off his red suit mask to reveal his face. "I had no choice actually…" he turned to look at Iris and smiled weakly.

"You killed Duplicate?" she asked, a little sadly as Joe moved next to her.

"Bar?" he asked, a little despondently.

"I didn't have any choice!" Barry protested, his eyes lingering on Iris now. "She had me pinned up by that other Flash and was planning on using him to get to you guys and get the alien girl back." Caitlin and Iris glanced worriedly at one another at this but Barry didn't seem to notice. Barry had never once called Kara 'the alien girl' – he'd barely even called her 'clone' either. "She thought the other Barry had knocked me out, so when the other Flash was getting out of his outfit I took my chance. I would have brought her back, but if she got anywhere near the girl… I didn't want to risk it."

Joe seemed to find this excuse acceptable, he not being completely in the loop on Duplicate and the clones, as he moved forward to pull Barry into a hug as he muttered, "You did what you had to do Bar; sometimes you're not left with much choice…"

"She's awake?" Barry, who could see into the other room over Joe's shoulder while embracing his foster father, could see Kara in discussion with Cisco and Wells; she was now just sitting on the table, her legs swinging in the air beneath her with her back to the cortex. Wells was talking animatedly, almost smiling as he explained things, but Cisco stood back, he looking momentarily into the cortex to smile at Barry, who nodded solemnly back.

"Yeah she is," Caitlin replied, sharing another look with Iris who nodded before she continued, "Kiera woke about two minutes ago, just at the point when we lost contact with you."

"I suppose it was when I stopped Duplicate," Barry commented, still staring at the woman's back now that the embrace was over. "Does she remember anything? I mean about Duplicate or the other Flash?"

"Not much," Caitlin continued to lie. "I never really heard much. She battled you through Duplicate's orders though." Barry turned sharply to look at Caitlin, shock clearly on his face.

"I thought –?" he started before cutting himself off and nodding slightly, "I mean, I suppose she must have, I mean Kiera wouldn't have attacked me on her own head, would she?"

"Not at all," Iris now smirked, her dad not saying anything due to the look she was giving him but Caitlin took the chance she had been waiting for, moving past Barry to the side-lab to poke her head in. "Barry's back, Kara. Perhaps you could thank him?" She kept her voice low so that Barry couldn't hear her in the next room, Kara looking round to look at Caitlin.

"Barry saved me?" She said a little simply, "Harrison told me. I should thank him. Yes?" She looked to Wells for confirmation, he looking a little confused to Caitlin but she mouthed something to him, causing him to cock an eyebrow at her before nodding to Kara.

"You're weak at the moment, so you can't do too much harm Kara, but once I rig up some ultraviolet lights you can charge up in no time, like I said, so you won't do Barry harm. Well, not too much," he reasoned as he gave her a very genuine smile, she grinning back as Caitlin moved next to Cisco and whispered something into his ear.

As Kara's eyes connected with Barry's however she felt suddenly strange, like she was instantly repelled by him and couldn't place a reason why this would be. She was about to open her mouth to this thought when Wells put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," he told her simply. "You know what to do."

And she did. Without really thinking about it she was running straight at Barry, who's eyes widened momentarily before she threw a punch, the speedster not having a chance as he went flying into the wall and slumping down it, instantly unconscious.

"What the hell?!" Joe called, about to run to his son but Iris stopped him, Caitlin moving past as she looked over the unmasked Barry. Kara stood in shock, not sure what she had done and why as she turned to Wells who smiled simply at her. For some reason his smile was reassuring to her; he was the first person she had seen when woken, after all.

"He's not dead," Caitlin finally said as she turned to the gathered crowd, all in the cortex now, "and he's not Barry either, Joe. He's the clone. He's the Anti-Flash."

"He's… what?" Joe looked between Caitlin and Iris at this point.

"Barry would never kill so… easily," Iris pointed out. "The idea is in his head though, but somehow I doubt…" her voice trailed off as she said more firmly "and then we called Kara 'Kiera' instead, just to see if he would correct us. He's the one insisted she's Kara. He didn't. He didn't know."

"I did wonder why you called her that," Joe interrupted awkwardly glad he hadn't spoken when they said the wrong name.

"Final nail in the coffin was his reaction to Kara's actions before he'd – the real Barry – bought Kara to STAR Labs. The clone would know Duplicate lost control of her, but Barry wouldn't."

"How did you know she'd lost control of me?" Kara asked innocently.

"I didn't. But his reaction confirmed it. If she had been in control, the clone Barry wouldn't have protested when he forgot who he was supposed to be. As it was, he protested because he knew Duplicate lost control of you. He didn't keep his calm so easily as our Barry would have," Caitlin stated, pleased with herself. Duplicate had just tried to pull one over on them and they had outsmarted her. No one could replace the real Barry.

"That, and I know his face. I could tell it wasn't our Barry when he looked at me," Iris stated, Joe now smiling fondly at his daughter, knowing their special connection.

"But that means Barry is still with Duplicate," Wells pointed out, "and with the Anti-Flash unconscious…"

"What's to say Duplicate now knows her clone's out cold due to her connection with him?" Cisco voiced. "She knows her plan failed. Barry could be in danger."

"One thing at a time. First we need to get this one locked up in the pipeline," Wells stated, pointing at the Anti-Flash.

"Let me do it," Kara suddenly stated. "Take on Duplicate, I mean. Barry's at her mercy right now because of me, it's the least I could do. Harrison, you said I could charge my alien DNA under those ultraviolet light and then I'd be unstoppable?"

"Technically you would…" Wells reasoned, "but what if she can reconnect to you?" He actually sounded concerned for Kara's wellbeing, something he never was to anyone but Jesse.

"You said she couldn't," Kara replied, moving over Wells as she added, "Please? I know I can do it."

All eyes were on Kara and Wells now, as Harry sighed to himself. "For once it's against my better judgement but okay. Yes. You may not know your powers yet, but Duplicate can't physically harm you, she can't get in your head and can't clone you again from your own hair, being a clone already. So I don't see you coming to harm that way. Okay. It's the best plan we have." He sighed as he gave in.

"YES!" Kara literally punched the air as she followed Wells out of the room.

The rest in the room looked at one another, clearly nervous. "Do you think she can do it?" Joe asked a bit unsure and concerned for his son.

"Not a clue," Caitlin said. "But we don't have too many other options."

Iris was looking to the other room where Wells had put Kara under some ultraviolet lights he'd already rigged up. "She can do it," Iris said thoughtfully, surprising everyone. "If she's anything like the girl she originated from – the two Barry met – she can do it. She can be a hero. She can be Supergirl."


	6. A Superhero's Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara goes to Barry's aide; later, a bereaved Quentin Lance learns about Duplicate.

Barry woke in the dark. Or at least the near-dark.

As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light and the pain in his head from being knocked out decreased, he could just make out the outline of someone nearby and was instantly reminded of being stuck on Earth-2, in Zoom's lair and wondered, for a heart-stopping moment, if the same had happened again.

But that wasn't Zoom. The figure was too petite and seemed less arrogant without doing much to convey attitude and it was then that he remembered Duplicate, the clone of himself and Kara.

Kara. He wondered if she'd woken up yet. He'd left her at STAR Labs with the others and while he trusted the others, he still wasn't quite ready to let Kara out of his life and into the rest of the world yet. He wondered if, being a clone, she vibrated at this Earths frequency too, or if her cells would vibrate at all. Would her body adapt to vibrating at the same frequency as those around her or would she begin to vibrate at that of Earth-3 or 4? Depending on which Kara her hair had come from.

His thoughts were interrupted when the outline of Duplicate came near. "Your clone is as stupid as he looks," she breathed, he feeling the heat of her breath on his face as she leaned in and suddenly stopped. "Oh, you're awake. I was hoping not to hurt you yet, but plan… shall we say C, is in order."

It was only now that Barry realised his hands were tied behind his back and his legs, too, were bound. There was masking tape over his mouth as well, but at least he could breathe through his nose. He couldn't even retort to his clone's apparent failure, knowing no one would be as efficient as himself, not any mere clone of his. But that didn't stop Duplicate from producing something shiny and long from nearby.

"One clone failed where another won't," Duplicate stated as she placed the blade to Barry's cheek. "All I need is one drop of blood. You see, I do so hate when my children are taken from me and you've taken two of mine within minutes of each other, inadvertently though the second one was." He felt pain in his cheek as the blade sliced the skin. He'd been through so much to cause him physical pain; broken bones, punches, grazes, cuts and even a broken back, but it still hurt as Duplicate split his skin apart.

He could feel the heat of blood trickling down his face, contrasting so horribly with the ice-cold touch of Duplicate as she collected some of it from his cheek. Close up, and through the pain and worry, Barry realised that for the first time Duplicate's face wasn't blurred. He could see her thin, pale face almost clearly; a ghost of the image Caitlin had pulled up on Professor Thomson. She had been lost in her work, lost in her powers, that she wasn't who she once was. It was no surprise she went by the new name now – Thomson wasn't there anymore, even in the colds of her eyes. The woman who used to be there was truly gone while the body still lived.

There was an explosion of sound, of light and Duplicate was lost in the sudden dust cloud and brightness of the evening outside. Barry had no idea what had happened until a figure stepped into the beam of light that the wall had so recently been blocking: A woman shorter than himself, with long dirty blond hair and a white jumpsuit – the complete reverse of what Kara's clone had worn when she had faced off Barry earlier. She turned to look at Barry and smiled.

"I came to save you," she said, almost simply. In that moment Barry could see the girl he'd met on the other Earths shining though. "My creator needs to be stopped. Where is she?"

Barry could hardly reply with the tape still covering his mouth. Duplicate answered the question herself, however, emerging from under the rubble and shaking herself off, looking even weaker in the evening light than she had in the darkness, but she held up her finger, still smothered in Barry's blood (albeit dusty) as she glared at Kara.

"So, my child has come back to the nest." Her features began to blur once more as she moved the blood-covered finger to her mouth, Barry realising she intended to blow on it, like she had done with the gas of the clone Nimbus earlier, to create another Flash. He had to get out of the bonds, or at least free his mouth for the moment, before it was too late.

Kara seemed to know what Duplicate was about to do too as her eyes glowed, and for a second a red beam emitted from them and struck Duplicate's finger; the digit exploding as Duplicate screamed. Kara groaned however, the effort of making the laser eyes weakening her, but she ploughed on through, running at Duplicate, who only just ducked from damage.

Whatever happened next Barry didn't see, as he closed his eyes, concentrated on vibrating his hands and legs at a speed to pass through his bonds, but when he did reopen his eyes and jumped to his now-free feet, Kara had Duplicate held up by the throat.

"No! Don't kill her!" Barry found himself saying, ripping the tape from his mouth, as Kara looked his way. "Iris was right. I don't kill. We don't kill. Not unless we have to…" he looked to Duplicate, choking on Kara's tight hold, "and we don't have to" he finished sympathetically.

He didn't want this Kara's first heroic act to be of murder, and he couldn't kill Duplicate himself, not really, as it would make him no different from Zoom or any other meta who killed simply for the sake of it. Especially Zoom actually, whom had killed Duplicate's Earth-2 self just for the sake of being done with her skills. He would not reduce himself to that level. Not now, not ever.

Kara was smiling at Barry however, an innocent, sweet smile. She dropped Duplicate who fell like a puppet cut from its strings, unconscious due to lack of oxygen from when being choked. Barry moved over to the meta, who in her sleeping state no longer blurred her features, but who did look thin, pale and ill. He glanced to her index finger on her right hand to find Kara had actually blown it off; in fact, the whole hand seemed to be swollen.

"Let's get her back to STAR Labs" he sighed.

-SuperFlash-

"Duplicate's under lock and key at precinct," Joe addressed Barry, Kara, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco and Wells; he had just returned from the precinct after a mad evening.

Kara had flown Duplicate back to STAR Labs where everyone was impressed and pleased to see Barry alive. Wells had then checked over the unconscious Duplicate's damaged hand and informed them that Kara had done severe nerve damage to it, that the hand wasn't going to be usable but that Kara had still 'done good', before Joe got in contact with some of his colleagues to transport Duplicate to their meta-human holding facility at the department. What they were going to do with the existing clone of Barry, still in the pipeline, none had an idea, but Barry had decided he didn't want to face up to the Anti-Flash any time soon. He had, however, gotten his Flash suit back, Caitlin and Cisco having removed it from the clone after he'd be rendered unconscious by Kara.

"That was some mighty fine heroics from you, Kara," Joe now added to Kara, who was holding Wells' hand like a child and their parent. She was still grinning.

"But you need to hone in your skills," Caitlin was the one to voice this, surprising many whom thought this would be Wells' line, "and you need an identity. Other than just 'Kara'."

"Well, that's simple" Wells replied, "she'll be my daughter."

"What?!" This was Barry's instant shock, looking wide-eyed to the doctor. He had not been expecting that one. He had almost just been about to suggest the last name 'Danvers' – hell, he was even about to ask Caitlin to look up Alex Danvers, Kara's sister from Earths 3 and 4, to help.

"It makes sense" Wells reasoned, "Jesse and I are not of this Earth, and neither is Kara, technically. To bring Kara into my fold of unknowns is a simple step. I'm already in the process of sorting out documentation for Jesse and myself to exist without worry on this Earth, so I'm happy to extend this offer to Kara. To Kara Wells."

"Are… are you okay with this?" Barry turned to Kara, who was looking slightly concern but not disappointed. Barry liked Wells, he really did, definitely more-so this one than the Thawne version, but even so, to have Kara as one of Wells' children, even adoptive…

"He's been like a father since I woke," Kara stated simply, making Barry wonder what he had missed. "I need an identity in this world as much has he does, and his own daughter, I see his reasoning and logic, and it makes sense, Barry."

"That's not all," Caitlin stated before Barry could respond, he turning agitatedly to her now. "Like I said, Kara needs to hone in her skills. Harry would help but he needs to find Jesse, like really needs to, so I contacted Lyla… at Kara's request, actually."

"Diggle's wife?" Barry asked just to confirm. He knew who Lyla was, but this could have been another Lyla, not the spouse of the Green Arrow's right-hand man and head of ARGUS. He then realised what else Caitlin had just said and turned to Kara. "Your request?"

"I need to train, to learn. Caitlin told me about Lyla before I rescued you and I agreed" Kara stated.

"Agreed to what? To join Lyla and ARGUS?" he now turned to Caitlin, annoyed not to have been kept in the loop, annoyed too that Kara was being taken away from him so soon and without even his opinion on the subject. Not that they would have mattered anyway, a voice in his head reasoned.

"Yes, and no" Caitlin said with level voice, although not looking directly at Barry now. "ARGUS' Meta-Human department, the ones who accidently let King Shark loose on us a while ago, has got a new head, Alex Danvers, and she's more than willing to let Kara come join them for a short period to learn and grow, to become the person she wants to be." Caitlin said this at a quicker speed than normal, but Barry had been concentrating on the 'Danvers' of the department.

"Alex was Kara's sister on the other Earths," Barry stated, somewhat dumbfounded to Caitlin. He had been going to suggest her and now she had actually come up in the conversation without his input. Perhaps the universe was trying to tell him something through his friends?

"Then I'll be the perfect person to help her." Barry would have broken his neck at the speed in which he turned to the entrance of the cortex at the voice of the woman he thought he knew. It was her, Alex, standing there, dressed in a uniform similar to that of her other Earth counterpart, but her hair was longer, it had blond highlights and there was a grin on her face. He'd only ever seen her scowling on Earth-4. "Caitlin and Director Diggle have informed me of the multiverse situation going on here in Central, King Shark being my predecessor's failings and of 'Earth-2' origins, but under mine and Lyla's tutelage, ARGUS' Meta-Human department is now more than capable now of handling things, shall we say, more-than-human." Her eyes lingered on Kara.

"You look nice" was all Barry could retort as he looked back at Caitlin, then at Kara, then back to Alex. "I like the long hair. The short was good too… and what the hell I am saying? You weren't the one with the short hair. I'll shut up now." He'd momentarily forgotten this wasn't the same Alex.

Alex gave Barry a strange look before laughing at his comments. "Thank you, Mr. Allen. Although we haven't been formally introduced. I guess not in this universe anyway" she moved forward and took Barry by the hand to shake. "Cait has let me in on your particular connection to Miss Wells here, so I can personally assure you she shall be quite capable in my, and ARGUS', hands."

"Yeah," Barry stated, still a little dumbfounded as he honed in one word Alex had said: "'Cait'? You know each other?"

"Old college friends," Caitlin replied with a grin. "Alex has a great mind."

"As do you, Cait" Alex grinned. "Well, time's wasting and I don't like to keep people waiting. Cait has my details if you want to get in contact with me. Kara, I'll let you say your goodbyes for now, but know that you can return here anytime you want. Our base operation is only an hour by car, faster by Flash." She winked at Barry.

"Thank you," Kara said as Alex turned and left the room. It was Barry that Kara addressed first though. "Thank you too, Barry. I have to do this. I want to learn what I am, what I can do, and Alex seems kind and trusting. Caitlin is kind and trusting and Alex is her friend so that goes without saying."

"I suppose so…" Barry responded a little glumly. He'd just gotten Kara back, really back; he didn't want to lose her again. But Kara was her own person now, free of Duplicate, free of anyone and she wanted to do this. He couldn't really stop her.

"I look forward to meeting Jesse, to meeting my adoptive sister." Kara had turned to face Wells whom had a very odd look on his face, to say her temporary goodbye to him. "And I can't wait to be part of the Wells family for good. You know this is something I must do, Harrison."

"I do. I wish you luck, Kara." He properly smiled now as he pulled her in for a hug. That confirmed to Barry that, whatever had happened while he'd been holed up by Duplicate, Wells had bonded with Kara quickly and familiarly. Barry found himself smiling too.

Kara seemed to want to say goodbye to everyone individually, which took time as she still found it hard to find the right words to say, beyond variations on 'I must do this' to discovering herself, and when she finally came to leave, Barry had to wonder how much patience this Earth's Alex must have to wait so long. He also wondered that perhaps, maybe things wanted to happen as he'd already seen them, such as Kara having to have a sister in Alex and having to train with this version of the DEO (supposedly ARGUS' meta-human department) and who knows, maybe one day she may well come to don the mantle of Supergirl, or whatever she wanted to be called in this life.

Wells was right though; she had done well with Duplicate. So had he. Barry had resisted the urge to kill the clone-maker and now the only thread left was the Anti-Flash in the pipeline. Something would have to be done about him in time. But not yet. He could wait.

"Well, I don't know about you," Joe spoke up as silence had gathered in the cortex, Wells moving off back to the side-lab and Cisco having a word with Caitlin, "but I should have a rest, Bar, before the next meta turns up or Zoom finds a way back to this universe. Let that nasty cut heal." He let his hand hover over the speed-healing cut Duplicate had given Barry.

"Zoom?" Barry repeated. "Yeah…" Joe patted Barry on the shoulder, gave Iris a little nod and left himself, leaving Barry to think of all he'd been through. With Kara's help though, maybe he could take on Zoom and together they could stop Jay once and for all. If she wanted to help, that was.

"We need to find a way back to Earth-2" he suddenly voiced to those remaining in the room, causing Caitlin and Cisco to look back at him. "With or without Harry's help." He remembered how Harrison had felt about that. He didn't want his help if Wells wanted peace though, but Barry knew he couldn't leave Earth-2 subjected to Zoom's wrath, they having closed all the breaches. He had promised the Earth-4 Kara he would stop him too. Barry also needed to concentrate on something for the time being now that his Kara was gone.

Caitlin and Cisco seemed to be sharing a look between themselves as Barry waited a response, they finally seeming to give in as Cisco simply stated, "Let's get to work" before he and Caitlin moved on.

Iris shared a weak smile with Barry, but didn't voice an opinion, instead waiting for a moment to talk to Barry, to find out what his feelings were toward this new Kara and her relationship now to Wells, along with Alex's appearance in this universe and, most of all, Barry's resolution to distract himself with Zoom once more. It had to be said, when Barry focussed on something, he didn't let it go.

-SuperFlash-

It had been one harrowing week for Former-Detective Quentin Lance. Soul-destroying, in fact, considering he was accompanying his ex-wife back to Central City after the worst morning of their lives. They had just this morning attended their older daughter's funeral and neither wanted to completely accept this truth. Quentin definitely didn't, so when he overheard something Diggle had been saying to his wife about the Flash's latest adversary, he had wasted no time in getting on the phone to Joe West, head of the meta-human department in Central City.

Quentin's hopes were too high, but he didn't want to destroy that of his ex's possible hopes, so the ride to Central had been a silent one, full of unspoken things and stray tears. Quentin had wanted to hold Dinah, to tell her that it would be all right; there may no longer be a Lazarus Pit thing to bring back the dead, but there was hope in their destination. He couldn't let Dinah know though, in case it was too much to hope for herself.

He didn't want to disappoint her again. He had to suffer in silence.

They departed at the Central City train station, she getting a taxi back to her apartment, he heading straight over to the police station, where Joe West himself met Quentin.

"Are you sure about this?" Joe asked quietly as they moved into the lift of the precinct. "You just lost her, and Duplicate doesn't –"

"I have to Joe!" Quentin stammered not letting Joe finish. "What if this was Iris, Wally or Barry? You're lucky. You know where all your kids are. Sara… I haven't heard from ages and Laurel's… Laurel…" his voice broke just as the lift doors opened. Joe, however, put a hand on his shoulder.

"As long as you want to do this for the right reasons, but remember the girl you knew is gone. This won't bring her back like you remember her. She won't even know you…" he said this with a resolute sigh, wondering if he was telling the truth. Barry had gotten Kara back through Duplicate, sort of, but Kara was an unusual case, and she wasn't exactly the girl Barry knew, from what his son had said of the Kara he had met before. "Duplicate isn't the answer you need."

"I need something, Joe" Quentin stated sadly, not taking the warning.

"Then she's down here…" As they moved off passed some cells – half of them with metas of ranging abilities, subdued, watching them – Quentin pulled from his satchel a hairbrush. It was littered with dirty-blond straggles of hair. Of Laurel's hair. He had to do this. He had to for Sara's sake, for Dinah's and his own. But mostly for Laurel's herself. It was because of him that she was dead, but he could fix that. He could keep his promise to keep her alive, safe from Damien Darhk, and this clone-making meta human was that answer. She had to be.


End file.
